Zapper is a puzzle platformer featuring a cricket, whose brother (whom he used as an antennae for his TV) got kidnapped by a crow (the main villain), and now he must overcome various dangerous obstacles to be able to watch TV-I mean, get his brother back. Skillfully maneuvering around enemies and traps, timing your movement so as to not fall off the ledge, and collecting as many orbs along the way had its charm on the 8 year old me. The game was not without its flaws, but it was fun.
Quantum Redshift, a racing game, has an obviously faster pace than the puzzle platformer, and it was the first game ever to make me feel an adrenaline rush. This game captivated me more than zapper, and instilled in me a fervour that pushed me to play through all difficulties and unlock all the unlockables. There is a decent roster of racers to choose from, each with their own nemesis, and a back story is attached to each character. In hindsight, characterisation is not the strong point of this game. The racing is. It is the future, and your racing vehicles are not equipped with speed boosters, shields, and missiles to attack other racers with. That was probably what sucked me in, the ability to destroy other vehicles. If this was any run of the mill pure driving game, I'd wager I wouldn't have taken to it as much as I did.
After these 2 came my very first "mainstream" game: Halo. I loved it. I need not go through its story here, seeing how popular it is now, and probably everyone knows at least the general gist of the franchise. I played this game over and over, overcoming my fear of the Flood along the way, until I got into my online gaming phase.
Online free-to-play games became very appealing to me, because I realised that my dad wouldn't buy too many games for the Xbox, and I was young and without a penny to my name. Then I tried as many MMOs as I could: MapleStory, Cabal Online, Pirate King, Granado Espada, 9 Dragons, Thang...well, you get my drift. This was a phase that lasted quite awhile. In fact, it only ended about 5 years ago. But I still have two MMOs left in my computer: Atlantica Online, and SW:TOR.
SW:TOR really only got my interest after I played KOTOR, but it is a nice MMO to frolic around in before abandoning it for a few months...then returning again. It really shows a lot of preference for paying players, but that's to be expected. It used to be pay-to-play after all.
Now, Atlantica, Atlantica...this is the MMO that I've held on to the longest. Its use of mythology and turning figures of legends and myths into allies you can recruit into your party...that's its winning point. And believe me, having Joan of Arc, Anne Bonny, Zhao Yun, and many others would make you feel mighty proud of the effort you've put into building your motley crew.
So, after emerging from the online gaming phase with more cash on my hands, I've dived into "actual" video games - the ones you have to get from the store. To cut a long story short, I've discovered a fierce passion for RPGs after playing the Mass Effect trilogy and crying over characters made of pixels. I could go into this "actual gaming" now, but this post has already gone on longer than it should. So, I shall dive into it next time.
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